When defender John Brooks headed home the game-winning goal for the United States men’s soccer team against Ghana on Monday, I cheered as loud as I could. I wasn’t alone.

A record 11 million viewers watched the American’s thrilling win against the team which had eliminated them in the last two World Cups. In fact, it was ESPN’s most-watched telecast since the Jan. 6 BCS National Championship between Auburn and Florida State.

Ratings for the tournament are also up as a whole, averaging just over four million viewers for each match through 14 contests.

Those type of ratings simply aren’t possible if the sport wasn’t at least a little exciting and had its supporters here.

I learned just how thrilling soccer was back in 2002 during the U.S.’s miracle run in the World Cup held in South Korea and Japan.

I’d wake up routinely at 4 a.m. as a 15-year-old to watch the U.S. pull off upsets of first tourney-favorite Portugal in the first group game and then Mexico in the knockout stage. The run would eventually end at the hands of runner-up Germany in the next round, but I was hooked.

For the next four years, I anxiously awaited the 2006 World Cup, which sad to say did not end well with Ghana knocking out the US in the final game of group play despite being ranked in the top-10 in the world.

It all built up to 2010 in South Africa, with the USA sitting on two points through two group games and a meeting with Algeria on top needing a win to advance and send rival England home. The game remained deadlocked at 0-0 until the 91st minute, when America’s all-time leading scorer, Landon Donovan, struck home a shot to send the US through.

Just as on Monday, there was a euphoric release of emotion, both in my house and across the country.

A common complaint about soccer is the low scoring, and the dreaded 0-0 draw. Every game is different, but when the US was trying to somehow will the ball over the goal line against Algeria for 90-plus minutes it was one of the most exciting things I’ve ever witnessed.

The beauty of soccer is for at least 45 minutes at a time there are no commercial breaks to interrupt the action. No coaches timeouts or challenges to slow things down. Imagine, if for an NCAA tournament game with Wisconsin trailing by a point with 30 seconds left, instead of having about 30 minutes of commercials the game just unfolded. That’s how it is for soccer.

Another factor is, especially for the World Cup, there’s a sense of national pride when your team is on the field. The players are representing the United States, or Mexico or whatever country that happens to be playing.

So many people get excited about the Summer and Winter Olympics for these exact reasons. How often outside of two weeks every four years do most people even care about bobsledding or luge? You see the Stars and Stripes and you well up with pride.

I have a friend from South Carolina who served in the armed forces in the Middle East and he normally could care less about soccer, but when he saw how hard the entire men’s national team played, he decided he’d watch today’s match. Clint Dempsey, Michael Bradley and Tim Howard of the U.S. will square off with Christiano Ronaldo and the Portuguese at 5 p.m. on ESPN.

Soccer isn’t for everyone, I’m not saying you have to watch. But if you do, you’ll be in good company among millions of fellow futbol fanatics.